


Master Plan

by WordMusician



Series: Master Pieces [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), Episode Fix-It: s02e13 Doomsday, Eventual Smut, F/M, Twisted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-13 11:29:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11184180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordMusician/pseuds/WordMusician
Summary: It wasn't Pete who hopped in and caught Rose before she fell into the void.





	1. Abduction

**Author's Note:**

> I got double dog dared to do a story where Rose meets the Master. This is it. Super short first chapter. Be responsible: read the labels...

In the moment when Rose was snatched from the maw of the void two pairs of eyes looked back at him.  Wide honey brown eyes checked to see that he was safe.  Narrowed icy blue eyes checked to see if he was recognized.

The Doctor’s scream ratcheted up a few octaves as he let go of the magna clamp anchor and threw himself forward.  They winked out of existence inches before he collided with the wall in a sickening crunch. 

He pulled himself upright.  Fire shot down his side – he had dislocated his shoulder and possibly cracked a rib.  He roared his pain and frustration as he charged out of the room cradling his arm.  There would be time enough to attend his injuries once he reached the TARDIS and they made chase.

He knew the TARDIS maintained a telepathic link with her passengers and if Rose was still in this universe he’d have a chance to track her if he was quick to follow her signal.  If they had jumped into Pete’s World then he’d have to see about punching a hole through the void regardless of the dire consequences he had told the others.  He had to get to Rose because there was absolutely no way – in _any_ possible reality – that Rose could be captured by the Master!


	2. Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master begins to manipulate Rose.

Rose stumbled as they materialized and pulled out of her rescuer’s arms, falling to her knees.  The Master liked it anytime someone kneeled at his feet and knowing who this girl was made it particularly delightful sight.  Until they’d reached their final destination he had allowed only seconds between jumps, never giving her an opportunity to orient herself or gain her own footing.  He was impressed that she had managed to stay conscious the whole trip.  But Rose was never one to be down for long so as soon as she could draw a proper breath, she pushed herself upright.

“Take me back,” she gasped.

“I just saved you from falling into the void and this is the thanks I get?”

“Okay, thank you.  Now, take me back.”

“I’m sorry love, but I can’t.” He worked really hard to sound sympathetic and reached out a hand to steady her on her feet.

“What do you mean?  Why can’t you?”

“We can’t go back, only forwards. Your falling is a fixed point in time.  Even I can’t change that.  Once I determined that, the best I could do was shave the timeline very, very close and save you from your doom.”

“But why can’t we go back now?”

“Separation from the Doctor is part of the timeline.”

Rose stared at the man who knew of the Doctor.  “Who are you?”

“Rose, don’t you know me?”  He sounded hurt and dropped her arm.  “It’s me.  I’m the Doctor, from the future. I crossed my own timeline to come back and rescue you.”

“What?”  She stepped closer, peering into his eyes.  The Doctor’s eyes were always ancient and timeless, regardless of their colour.  Yes, his eyes were very old, old and haunted.  They were also blue and reminded her of her first Doctor.

He let her stare, confident she would see nothing.  “It’s me,” he repeated. “We were separated in Torchwood at the Battle of Canary Wharf.  You were lost into the void.  It’s taken me a long, long time but I finally found a way to change that day.”

“You’ve regenerated?”

“New face same old man.”

As far as she knew, only a time lord had two hearts and he was the last of the time lords. Tentatively Rose reached out and placed a hand on his chest.  Dual heartbeats!  “Doctor?”

“Rose!”  He pulled her close and grinned unseen as he felt her arms wrap around his waist in a reciprocating hug.  “You have no idea how I’ve longed for this.”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears. She grieved the loss of her last Doctor and what must have happened to force him to regenerate yet again.  It was all happening so fast but the stead drum of his hearts beneath her ear steadied her.  Eventually, Rose pulled away and looked around the room.  She took in the white and light grey interior, the octagonal command station in the middle of the space.  “Where are we?”

He stepped back and gestured proudly, “Don’t you recognize her?  We’re in  the TARDIS, Rose.”

Rose frowned.  This looked nothing like the TARDIS that she knew.  There was no singing, no comforting presence in the back of her mind that she had come to know as the sentient ship.  She knew she had a chameleon circuit, but it was broken and why would she change her interior appearance?  “Um, you’ve redecorated.”

The Master was surprised but hid it well.  “Yes.  Well, you see after you were condemned to the void, I went a bit mad and did some crazy things.  I ended up regenerating and the TARDIS got a reboot too.  This is her default setting.”

“I liked the old way better,” she commented without thinking.

A flash of anger swept over his fair features. _How am I supposed to know what his TARDIS looks like inside?  I’m never invited in!_   Then he smiled and shrugged.  “Think of it as a series of unfortunate events.  The good news is we both survived. Still we can see later about re arranging if you like.”

Rose had seen the emotions in the Doctor’s face.  Hadn’t he just said he’d gone a bit mad?  _Don’t upset the designated driver._   He was the Doctor, but obviously some things had happened to him.  That could explain his mercurial reactions.  “It’s okay.  I’ll get used to it,” she assured him.  _What I can’t get used to is her not talking to me...did the TARDIS forget her during her ‘reboot’?_

She looked back at the Doctor taking in his appearance properly for the first time.  He was slightly shorter than before but broader in the shoulders and seemingly more muscular.  His face was rounder and he had straight blond hair cut short and rather shaggy, and a close cropped beard.  “You’re dressing differently,” she commented.  Sweat pants and sweat shirt were a dramatic departure from a pinstriped suit, oxford and tie.

The Master ran a hand down his hooded sweatshirt.  “I wear this because you like to wear them.  They reminded me of you.”

Rose wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Then she spied the vortex manipulator on his wrist and understood how they had travelled. “That looks like Jack’s!  Did you find him?  Where is he?”  Suddenly having a familiar face on this strange ship with this strange new Doctor was very appealing to her.

“I took this from Jack,” he acknowledged.  “It was how I could jump in and grab you.”

Rose bit back a sudden sob.  It was all catching up with her – in a few short hours she’d lost her mum and her best friend (again) and now here was a TARDIS who didn’t seem to know her and a Doctor that she didn’t seem to know.  Swiftly the Master was at her side.  “I know, it’s a bit of a shock.  Give yourself a chance.   The most important thing is that we are together.”

Rose nodded uncertainly.  She was usually so quick to adapt and keep up, but she kept thinking of her mum and Mickey and the terrified look on the Doctor’s face as her hand slipped off the lever.  The Doctor!  What he must be going through right now...  what he must have gone through to get here....?  What terrible thing had made both he and the TARDIS change so? She blinked rapidly to push away the tears.  Last time he’d regenerated she’d cried and she knew those tears had hurt him deeply.  They’d never really talked about it, but she’d seen it.  She looked again around the new room.  It was basically empty except for the new and more compact console.  The old tatty jump seat was replaced by a single chair, looking like a futuristic barber’s chair.  _Only room_ _for_ _one_ , she noted _, looks like he’s been travelling alone then._

The Master worked the console.  With a soft sigh the time rotor began to rise and fall in a familiar fashion.  “Safely into the vortex,” he commented smiling at her.

“It’s awfully quiet; where’s the wheezing sound she always makes?”

“I took off the parking break.  You’d hardly know we were in flight.”  The Master hid is irritation at being caught out on yet another discrepancy.  He soothed himself with her obvious deception.  He loved fooling people; it made him feel powerful.

“Where are we going?”        

“Nowhere for now; I really want to just be with you.” He gave her an intense look.  She really was rather pretty – in a human way.

“Be with me?” Rose squeaked.  This conversation seemed to be taking a direction she’d been longing for, but with this new face and new voice Rose was uncertain where she wanted this relationship to go.  She loved the Doctor, but now she felt like she needed to get to know him all over again.  She understood that with each regeneration there were new personality traits, new quirks and new ways of doing things.  Obviously losing her had impacted him – did that mean he was ready to acknowledge their attraction?  Did the discrepancy of their life span mean less now?  Did time lords ever even do that sort of thing? 

“Of course with you, Rose.”  He was advancing on her in an almost predatory stance.  “What’s the matter, Rose?  I thought you understood regeneration.  I’m still the same Time Lord on the inside.”

“I know...” Unconsciously Rose was stepping sideways, keeping the time rotor between them.  “It’s just the shock, I suppose...”  She looked about the room, measuring the distance to the hallway and the rooms beyond.

The Master was enjoying the slight signs of fear she was giving off: the widening of her eyes, the increased heartbeat, the moistening of her lips.  He knew she was going to bolt for the interior of the TARDIS, probably to take shelter in her room.  _Rassilon, you’d think by the way she was behaving they’d never been lovers!_

That new possibility sent a delicious shiver down his spine.  Oh!  OH!  That was ever, ever so much better.  The chivalrous Doctor had been pining from afar and now would lose his chance to make her his.  “Rose, my love, what’s wrong?  Don’t you trust me?  I’m the Doctor, remember?  I’m your Doctor.”


	3. Decimination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is dangerous.

“Come on, come on, come on!” the Doctor groaned trying to help his ship follow her trail.  The fact that there was a trail, no matter how faint proved that they had stayed in the right universe.  If they were in the right universe he would find them.  But the trail was fading and growing cold too quickly. Time was not on his side. “No, no, no!” he argued but his instruments did not lie.  Somehow the Master had succeeded in snatching her and hiding her far enough away that he could not simply chase after.

The pain in his shoulder was excruciating and causing enough of a distraction to be annoying as he tried to formulate a plan.  Impatiently, he strode over to a coral strut and forced his arm upward and out.  With a rough push he rolled backward and snapped the offending joint back in place. It would take time for the stretched ligaments to strengthen, but he could deal with that. The cracked rib would have benefited from some med bay attention but he was too upset to waste time on an injury that would heal itself in a few days.  He was far more consumed by the injury Rose would suffer at the hands of the Master: wounds that would possibly never heal.

The TARDIS sent him waves of concern for both her Thief and her Wolf.  She offered to automatically continue the search while he took steps to repair his body.  She sent him images of restorative rest and renewed strength that would be useful for the future.  She tried to remind him that she could computate and analyze data at near light speed without the help of his slower (but talented) time lord brain.  Her suggestions were rebuffed, but the TARDIS was not offended; she knew better than anyone (talented time lord included) how important the Wolf was to their happiness.

He tortured himself with the same mental image over and over again:  Rose in his clutches just before they disappeared.  It didn’t matter that he’d regenerated since they’d last met, he would always know the Master when he saw him.  How he’d escaped the Time War was a detail the Doctor dismissed as irrelevant.  The message those mad eyes had telegraphed to him made him ill.  The Master knew exactly who Rose was and would use her to hurt him in the worst ways possible.

Suddenly a detail jumped to the forefront of his frantic memory.  Buckled to the wrist of the arm that had been wrapped too tightly around Rose’s waist had been a vortex manipulator.  And not just any vortex manipulator, either.  That was Jack’s the Master had been wearing.  “You monumental idiot!” he exclaimed and leapt to the console.

 

“You monumental idiot!” he accused Jack.  “You gave your vortex manipulator to the Master!  The Master!  Don’t you understand?”

Jack didn’t, but that didn’t seem to register on the Doctor whose face had transformed into the Oncoming Storm.  Jack died defending his treasured bit of tech from the mysterious thief who hadn’t even had to courtesy to stick around and continue the fight.  But he didn’t get the chance to explain before his breath was being choked out of him.  Brown eyes that were so dark they appeared black spat fire into his blue ones, incinerating his soul. 

“He took Rose.  He took her and he will hurt her and use her to destroy me and then he will kill her and toss her away like a broken doll.”

“Doctor...” Jack wheezed, clawing at the hands that were crushing his windpipe.  _Stop!  Stop this.  I want to help, let me help you find them.  Let me..._

 

The Doctor marched out of Torchwood without a backward glance at the lifeless form of Captain Jack Harkness.  He could trace the Master using the time signature trail of the blasted vortex manipulator. He should have thrown that thing into a super nova when he had the chance – preferably with Jack Harkness’ arm still attached. Rage swirled and howled within like a hurricane and it was far too easy for the Doctor to shed his cultivated genteel demeanor and embrace his dark side.  The Destroyer of Worlds was on a mission and nothing and no one was standing in his way.

The vortex manipulator was a relatively short range transport device so the Doctor in the TARDIS followed them in a series of jumps.  At each destination he would question the locals.  Sometimes they had been paid for their silence, but they were never paid enough to withstand him.  Descriptions of a blonde female traveler kept him going.  Evidence that she was still alive helped him be merciful in meting out his judgement.


	4. Seduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is blinded by her repressed attraction to the Doctor and the Master takes advantage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title says it all.

_"Rose, my love, what’s wrong?  Don’t you trust me?  I’m the Doctor, remember?  I’m your Doctor.”_

She hesitated in her flight plan and that was all the opportunity he needed.  The Master closed the gap and suddenly she was in his arms.  “Please, Rose,” he added just the right tremor to his voice to sound pathetic, “Please don’t leave me.  Not again.”

Rose melted into his embrace, his pleading her undoing.  Her brush with unimaginable death and his rare display of vulnerability broke over any reservations she held. He needed her; the Doctor needed her. He felt her moment of surrender and curled a finger under her chin to lift her face towards him.  He wasted no time laying claim to her slightly parted lips.

Her taste was intoxicating: such sweetness, such softness and beneath that, such power.  The rush of it all went straight to his head and he found himself pulling her closer.  He had meant for now only a claiming kiss but his hands began to wander, caressing, stroking, grasping.  When she gasped he took the advantage and plunged his tongue into her mouth.  More sweetness! When her little hands slid up to cling to his shoulders, he growled his approval _.  Yes, Rose Tyler, hang on to me._   _Cling to me._   Her heart was beating wildly and he remembered humans had no respiratory bypass, so with some reluctance he sucked on her lower lip and then moved his kisses to her jaw line.

Rose dragged in a much needed breath.  “Doctor...” she breathed, head spinning. 

Hearing that name was sufficient ice water on his libido to put the Master back on track and in control.  He hadn’t expected her to be so heady to his senses but then he’d always been attracted to power and Rose Tyler practically oozed of mysterious power.  He let his teeth graze her ear lobe before moving lower to suckle on her neck.  He sucked hard leaving the first of many planned bruises to mark his territory.  He was intent on painting a picture of lust and debauchery. One hand fisted in her hair, tugging back her head to expose more creamy skin for his assault.  His other arm wrapped tightly about her waist and bent her backwards.

Rose felt the stinging pain as he pulled on her hair and drew up blood in a bruising kiss.  Instead of putting her off, she was surprised to find she enjoyed it.  At last he was taking charge and going with his feelings. If he was coming on strong, she could relate with all her own pent up and frustrated longings.  She would have been happy to nibble on him in turn but he gave her no opportunity.

When her knees buckled slightly and he bent and scooped her into a bridal carry, she thought he could take them deeper into the TARDIS but instead he strode over to the chair.  He sat with her across his lap, draping her legs over the one armrest.   Before she could ask him why they weren’t going somewhere else, he grabbed her jaw and turned her head to plunder her mouth again.  Then he trailed his hand down her throat to snag the zipper on her hoodie and ease it downward.  He really did appreciate these style tops and he wondered idly if he was fulfilling any of her fantasies.  Surely she’d been dressing with him in mind.  As soon as the sweater was open he pushed his hand inside and cupped a breast and lacy bra.  _No tank or t-shirt – you vixen!_   As a reward he rubbed his thumb over her hardening nipple.  He also reached back with his foot and hit a switch with the toe of his boot.

Around the room hidden cameras came to life.

Rose didn’t notice him opening her top; she was too busy fencing with his persistent tongue, so when his bare hand closed over her bra she jumped.  She felt her nipples harden at his bold move and liquid heat began to pool between her thighs. It had been far too long since any man had touched her and the fact that this was the Doctor, the object of her heretofore unrequited love, was spellbinding.

“Swing your legs over mine,” he told her, turning her so that her back was pressed against his chest and her head fell back on his shoulder.  He swiftly opened her top the rest of the way and went to work on both her breasts with his large hands.  He squeezed and pulled, gauging what seemed to please her best, working to build her arousal.  She squirmed in his lap, pressing her bum down onto his hardening length.  _Later my whore._   He twisted his head so that he could run his tongue down her neck before latching on to her clavicle and shoulder in hard open mouth kisses.  One hand left her breast to slide down her stomach and under the waistband of her slacks and knickers.

He spread his legs apart, forcing her to open hers and pushed a finger onto her clit.  He played her body like the master that he was and she responded beautifully.  She reached back to caress his head but when her questing fingers didn’t find thick chestnut hair she hesitated, reminded again that this was not the Doctor she had known.  Her mind was struggling to catch up but her body was awash with strong pleasurable sensations.  Rose felt a momentary flush of shame at her wantonness.  The Master sensed her withdrawal and quickly increased the friction on her body, pushing her over the edge into orgasm.

When she cried out his name, he sank his teeth into her shoulder and tasted blood.  “Master,” he gritted.  “I am Master to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that I have built up sufficient reasonable doubt that having Rose succumb to the Master's advances is plausible without him resorting to drugs or hypnosis, etc. Remember, as far as Rose knows there is only one Time Lord left in existence...


	5. Desolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master stops pretending and Rose is betrayed.

As soon as he had what he wanted, he pushed Rose off him.  He smirked at her confusion and watched her lazily as she hastily pulled her top closed.  Her shaking fingers couldn’t manage the zipper.

“What... what did you say?”

His smirk became a feral smile.  “I said Master.  I am Master to you.”  He sprang off the chair and began to strut around the room.  “What?  Did you actually believe I was the Doctor?  Oh ho, that’s good, that’s so, so good.  So much for knowing your lover, am I right?  But no, Rose Tyler I am not your precious Doctor.  And now that I have deflowered - get it?  Deflowered Rose.  Okay, fine don’t’ laugh at my jokes.  I don’t care because the biggest joke is on you.  That’s all you are now, Rose Tyler, a big joke.”  He paused to lean against the chair and study her.  “I had thought about taking you to bed, and maybe I still will.  Your milk-toast Doctor won’t want you after a performance like that, but oooh what a performance, my dear.  I could so make you scream.”  He stepped on the button under the chair and a holographic image of the last few minutes played before Rose’s shocked gaze.  “So much for his loyal loving companion, eh?  Making out with his mortal enemy, tisk, tisk.  If I’d wanted to you’d have let me fuck you right there in the chair!  Where are the morals of this younger generation?”

The Master walked through the 3D image of them in the chair and crowded into her personal space.  “When the Doctor sees what you have done, what do you think he will do, hmm?  Will he cry?  I’d like to see him cry.  Or will he rage?  I’d like to see that more, wouldn’t you?  Do you think he’ll forgive you and take you back?  I wouldn’t.”  He ran a finger down her cheek and Rose flinched away. 

“You tricked me,” she whispered in protest.  Her whole world was tilting. She felt like throwing up.

“And it was so easy too,” he purred.  “He’s not the last of the Time Lords, is he?  I knew that but he didn’t it.  His ignorance is his undoing.  But he won’t be ignorant for long – I’ll make sure of that.  He will know exactly what kind of hussy you are.  Maybe, if he begs just right, I’ll let him have a threesome with us before I kill him.”

Rose gave him a violent shove and ran toward the TARDIS doors.  She didn’t care if they were in flight, she’d fling herself into space to escape this madman and the nightmare he was weaving.

But the Master was too fast.  He slammed her against the door before she could grasp the handle.  “Where do you think you’re going?  The party has hardly started.  The guest of honour isn’t even here yet.”

Rose bit her lip.  She would not give him the pleasure of seeing her cry and she had no doubt that her tears would give this evil man pleasure.  “You’re wrong about him.  We’re...we’re not like that,” she stammered.  “The Doctor doesn’t care about me that way.”

The Master leaned forward, pinning her to the door with his chest and letting his hands caress her sides and hips possessively.  “Such sweet lies from such a pretty mouth.  You know it and I know it, so let’s not pretend, shall we?  He may not have taken you as his lover and that just goes to show how stupid he really is, but he loves you.  A great and mighty time lord in love with a human woman – what will they think of next?  I’ve been watching you for a long time, Rose Tyler, waiting for my chance to use his love against him.  Thank you for playing.”  He gave her a hard spank.

He backed up, pulling her along.  “I can’t have you escaping before the big party, so we’ll just have to restrain you.”  The Master reached up overhead, just out of Rose’ main line of vision and tugged downward.  From the ceiling fell a length of chain with a pair of leather cuffs bolted on the end.  With depressing ease, he ignored her struggles and before she knew it her wrists were manacled above her head.

He stepped back and tilted his head one way and then the other, considering his prize with ice cold eyes.  “If you’re a good girl, I will lower the chain after a while to ease the strain on your shoulders, but for now I need...” he stepped forward and arranged her sweater so that it hung fully open. The hickeys on her neck were turning lovely shades of purple and blue, but his bite mark was still obscured. “Hmmm.  Almost....”  From out of nowhere the Master produced a pocket knife.  He enjoyed the fear that flickered in her eyes as he opened the blade and tucked that tantalizing tidbit of information away for later.  He really could get off on people's fear.  He slid the sharp blade under her bra strap and with a quick sawing motion cut it through.  He repeated the action on the other side then pushed down the cups to expose her bare breasts.  Holding her steady with hard hands on her hips, he bent over and bit down on one pale mound, chuckling at her squeal of protest.

“Yes.  That will do nicely.  Say cheese, Rose darling.”

 

Rose hung limply from her cuffs.  The Master had put her moment of shame on auto loop and then proceeded to give her a moment by moment commentary on their activities until he grew bored and sauntered off to implement the next phase of his sick plan.  She had sworn to herself that she would not let him see her cry, but her body continued to betray her.  Salt tracks marred her cheeks and crusted her lashes.

There was no reasoning with this lunatic.  Her heart broke repeatedly.  If the Doctor had had any scrap of feelings for her the Master had made sure they would be trampled.  She had been seduced as the worst fool. Self disgust and loathing festered and Rose wished for all manner of escape.


	6. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor finds more than he bargained for.

The Doctor knew it was a trap.  Of course it was a trap, why else would the Master have taken her if he didn’t mean for him to follow?  The trail had led to a little Class M planet a few millennia away from being home to any indigenous sentient race.  Well that was good news at least – no collateral damage if things got ugly.  And the Doctor intended it to be ugly.  The Master had crossed the line this time and every wisp of kindred compassion had burned away in his ire.

He was close enough now to sense the other time lord, so he pocketed his devise and resolutely entered the cave.

The Master shouted his glee, startling Rose from her stupor.  The time rotor had stopped so they had landed somewhere.  “He’s coming!” 

Rose was torn.  She assumed he meant the Doctor and she desperately longed for him and a rescue from this terrible man.  At the same time she dreaded his arrival for the ugly trap that was laid for him.  If only she could warn him... explain to him....

He grabbed Rose by the jaw and forced open her mouth.  He pressed a ball gag past her lips and strapped it into place.  “I can’t have you warning him too soon my love,” he explained and licked off one salt track from her face.  Her tears tasted almost as good as her blood and he teased himself with thoughts of what other parts of her would taste like.  “It’s all about delayed gratification, they tell me.  I’ve delayed oh, so long so this will be extremely gratifying.”

The Master struck a pose leaning against the console.  “How do I look?” he asked her.  “So good you’re speechless?” He laughed at his joke and then concentrated on the door.  He was near, he could feel him.  Unconsciously his fingers tapped out a rhythm.

 

Finding a large wooden crate in the bowels of a cave on an empty planet seemed completely appropriate for his nemesis.  He couldn't have announced his presence more obviously unless he'd hung a flashing neon sign. And of course the only thing his sonic did not have a setting for was wood.  He would know that.  A random parallel slid across his fevered mind: his own beloved TARDIS was perpetually cloaked in a wooden police call box.  Ironic.

There was a door but no handle.  He’d even had the cheek to set out a welcome mat.  What was he supposed to do?  Knock politely and await admittance?  “Not bloody likely,” he muttered and applied his martial arts skills in a well placed kick.  With a satisfying crack the wood splintered and the door swung drunkenly inward.

The room was decorated to resemble a standard TARDIS, much like he had traveled in many faces ago.  Directly in his line of sight was the Master leaning back against the command console.

“Aw now look what you’ve done to my front door!” he complained.  “That’s pretty rude – even for you.”

“Where is she?”

“Come in and see.  We’ve been entertaining ourselves while we waited for you.”

No sooner had the Doctor stepped inside than the Master slammed his hand down on a button.  Even with the insulation of his rubber soled shoes the Doctor felt the current of electricity locking his joints and holding him immobile.  A crude but effect trap.  Only his eyes could move and he searched for a glimpse of Rose.  He took in everything all at once: her manacled wrists, bowed head, turned away body. 

_Why was she turned away?  Why wasn’t she looking at him?  Has he rendered her unconscious?_

The Master followed his gaze and growled his frustration at Rose’s subterfuge.  Not the shock factor he had been anticipating.  He strode over and yanked Rose around to face the Doctor.  “Now, now my party girl, don’t ignore our guest.”  When she continued to keep her head down, he pulled on her hair, forcing her head up.  “Open your eyes,” he shouted, “Or I’ll rape you right here and now!”

Her bloodshot eyes snapped open and locked onto the Doctor’s. 

With his peripheral vision he knew that she was gagged, bruised and brutalized. Her top gaped open and her bra was in useless tatters giving him a show he had only ever fantasized about, but it was her eyes that slayed him.  The self-loathing and pain which dulled them was like a spear to his gut – undoubtedly the effect the Master had hoped for.  It was a good thing he had succeeded to immobilize him for the Doctor's blood lust ran high; his fingers itched to latch around the Master's throat and then break open his chest and pull out his heart.

“Let her go,” he forced out through gritted teeth.  “Your problem is with me.”

The Master"s laugh was cold. “Oh I don’t think so.  Rose is too much fun.  Besides, what better way to hurt you than hurt the ones you love?”  He lazily twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.  “Let’s show him what kind of fun we’ve been having while we waited for him to join the party.”  He produced a small remote and pointed it at the console.

In seconds the dreaded hologram began to play, the Master increased the volume so that every groan and moan was clearly heard.  Rose whimpered in the back of her throat but could make no other protest.  The Master gave a sharp tug to her hair to silence her.  “Quiet.  This is the best part.”

_“Doctor...!”_   The image flickered and then repeated its obscenity.  Rose didn’t think she could cry anymore.  She was wrong.

Tears fell down the Doctor’s immobilized face as well.   He could hardly understand what he was seeing.  Well, he knew what he was seeing of course (the Master had made that all painfully obvious), but Rose seemed to be actually enjoying it!  What was going on?  What did it mean?  Self doubt was creeping through his soul spreading its poison.  Anger for the Master began to turn inward.  He hardly noticed when the Master cut the current that held him prisoner except that his body was suddenly as limp as old celery.  He couldn’t even flinch when the Master gave a round house kick to his head and the stars of the cosmos were exploding behind his eyes.

 


	7. Condemnation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose are in a fine mess.

When the Doctor regained consciousness, he was strapped into the chair.  His time sense told him that he’d been unconscious for only a few minutes.  The residual aching of his jaw confirmed it.

“Welcome back!” the Master sang out, jumping into his line of vision and blocking his view of Rose.

“What do you want, Koshei?” he sighed.  Feigned disinterest would deflate the Master’s egocentric glee faster than anything else.

“What do I want?” he echoed.  “What I’ve always wanted: your pain.  To see you suffer with the ultimate betrayal as I suffered during the Time War.  Aren’t you going to ask me how I survived the conflagration? “

“No I wasn’t, but since you bring it up...?”

 

Rose was downing in her shame.  As soon as she’d heard the door breaking, she’d turned away wishing in a pathetic attempt to hide herself.  Of course the Master would have none of that.  The Doctor had barely looked at her and never said a word to her and now he seemed to be totally unaffected by her predicament.  It was Jimmy Stone all over again.  Beside the physical abuse Jimmy had heaped on her there had been the emotional abuse.  How he’d ignore her complaints and later her whimpers, how he let his mates make rude comments and even inappropriate touching at times.  Her personal pain didn’t mean anything, because she didn’t mean anything.  _It’s a different morality.  Get used to it or go home._   Oh, how she wished she could go home!  Why had she used the jumper button?  Why hadn’t she given in and just stayed with Mum and Pete and Mickey? None of this would have happened if she’d just stayed there. 

He’d shown her then how he didn’t want her.  He’d put the jumper around her neck himself.  The Master was right: she was a joke.  Just a stupid ape joke.

The Master was talking about the Time War.  “High Council had sent me to the Kasterborous Rim to bring back the Stranghai fighters in one last pincher move.  I slipped through the blockade and had almost made it there when you chose to use the Moment.  You! Chose!  Mr high and mighty Doctor chose to cure the Time War by sterilizing the wound with the Moment!  Who told you to do that?  Why didn’t you wait for me?  You went behind my back and wiped out my reason for existing!”  He was shouting in the Doctor’s face, spraying spittle in his agitation.

“The drums, man!  In my head, all the time. They are my call to war.   _My_ call – not yours. Ever since I looked into the Untempered Schism the drums have called to me.  It was my destiny to bring down the hammer that would smash our enemies but you stole that from me.  You _stole_ that.”

The Master crossed back over to Rose.  “So I have stolen your destiny.” 

The Doctor kept his eyes trained on the Master’s face.  He didn’t dare look at her.  He would give away too much, play too much into the Master’s hands.  _Forgive me, Rose._  

But the Master wasn’t satisfied with the Doctor’s apparent detachment, so he wrapped a proprietary arm around her waist and tugged her close.  “I’m thinking of bonding with her.”

“You can’t!” he blurted with more emotion than he wanted to reveal.  “She’s human, her mind doesn’t have the capability,” he lied.  “Bonding has to be mutually agreed upon otherwise...” he couldn’t finish his sentence for the fear that clawed at his throat.

The Master was only too happy to continue his train of thought, “Otherwise she’ll be a mindless puppet or a delectable vegetable.”  He looked at her considering, very disappointed that his words hadn’t sparked any fear into her sad eyes.  “That would be boring.”

The Doctor remained silent, waiting on the Master’s next move.  If he could keep him from tampering with her psychically then he stood the chance of saving her physically.  Psychologically though, that would take another sort of rescue altogether and the Doctor worried if he would be physician enough for that task.  He was so traumatized himself that he was afraid he would be useless to her.

The Master looked back and forth between his two prisoners.  After all the anticipation and even the fun of playing with Rose, it all seemed a bit anticlimactic now.  He shrugged philosophically.  Disappointment was part of his lot in life.  “I’ve changed my mind,” he announced abruptly as his clever mind jumped the tracks and began devising another plan. 

“We are time lords,” he reminded the Doctor, “So I shall let time be your punishment.  Can you appreciate the poetic justice?  Oh, the irony is delicious!”

The Doctor waited.  He knew the Master loved center stage and there was little he could to do at this point to take him off it.  The Time War had done things to the Master – as it had to all of them.  Ever since their academy initiation, Koshei had been different.  He’d taken the name Master and had delighted in using his charisma and intellect to manipulate others.  With every regeneration he was worse, but since the War, genuine madness seemed to have crept in alongside his megalomania and bend toward cruelty.  The Doctor wondered if he was still man enough to defeat him without being swallowed by his own dark monsters.

The Master moved about the room.  “This little planet is a few 1000 years away from having any form of sentient life.  Much longer before it will have anything that could possibly rescue you – or eat you for that matter, which is a bit of a pity.  Such a waste of nutritional materials.” He rubbed his hands together, “So here’s what we going to do, boys and girls.  I’m leaving you here.  You, my pretty Rose flower, get to stay with your darling Doctor.  Sorry, I know you were looking forward to all the fun we were going to have, but frankly you’re a bit too dull and boring for my taste.   I was hoping for a bit more spit and claw.   I thought you had some potential for power, but now I see that the only power you have is your hold over him. So I grant you your wish:  you get to stay with the Doctor forever. You don’t have to thank me.”

“And you, my dear old friend, you get to sit there and watch you fragile Rose wither and die.  Humans live such a short time and they are so high maintenance.  Practically hot house flowers in my opinion.  You can confess all your deepest and darkest secrets to pass the time – you’ll have a captive audience after all.”  He paused for a moment to gauge their reactions, but none were given to him.

“And me?  What shall I be doing?  So glad you asked!  I shall be busy wreaking havoc, spreading mayhem, and just generally have a rousing good time.  I think I shall start with taking over the Earth.  That’s your favourite, right?  Don’t know why, but okay – I’ll make it my favourite too, for old time’s sake.”

“How are you getting there?” the Doctor couldn’t help but ask.  “The vortex manipulator is short range.  Unless you’d already arranged for a transport to orbit, you can’t get off planet.”

Rose was puzzled.  What was the Doctor talking about?  They’d jumped into the Master’s TARDIS, hadn’t they?  Why couldn’t he just fly it wherever he wanted?  Then she remembered how the Doctor had kicked down the door.  How had he done that?  What happened to all the “assembled hoards of Genghis Khan” defences? 

“Oh, I have this,” the Master replied dangling a key and chain off his fingers.

Rose groaned behind her gag.  Her TARDIS key!  When had he taken that from her?  Another wave of condemnation crashed down on her.  She’d given up her most precious possession and never even noticed.

“It’s not going to work,” the Doctor argued.

“Of course it will work.  You wouldn’t give her a key that didn’t work, how stupid do you think I am?”

“You really want me to answer that?”

The Master raised an admonishing finger, “Careful now!  I could start your regeneration process for you, you know.  Then again, you might change into someone smaller and slip your bindings and I can’t have that.”  He turned to Rose and blew her a noisy kiss, “Sorry my sweet, parting is such... sugar!”

He strode out of the room with a shout and a laugh.  A second later he stuck his head back in the doorway.  “By the way, where did you park?”

The Doctor sighed, “You want me to actually tell you?”

“Yes.  I’ll find it eventually anyway.  Or, I could torture Rose for a bit...”

“A half mile east.”

“A half mile!  Why so far away?”

“I didn’t exactly know where you were when I got here, did I?  You forgot to send me the map.”

“Fine!  Fine!  Always the whiner.  Honestly, Rose how do you put up him?  Never mind, there’s no accounting for taste.  Ta-ta!”


	8. Absolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic screwdriver to the rescue!

The Doctor’s hearts broke afresh for the despondent way Rose hung from her chains.  He knew she couldn’t speak, but now that they were alone she still wouldn’t even look at him.  He had a violent urge to pull the chair up from its bolted base to reach her.  She needed him and every second that he couldn’t get to her was the ultimate torture.  He forced himself to wait until he was sure the Master had at least made it out of the cave.  He wouldn’t be able to fix onto the TARDIS with the vortex manipulator so he was in for a hike and that bought the Doctor time.

“Rose.”  He tried to pour all his compassion into that single word. 

“Rose.”  He needed her to come back from whatever dark place the Master’s treatment had sent her.  As fortune would have it, the Master had dragged his unconscious body by his injured arm and based on the level of pain he was still feeling, the Doctor knew that he’d dislocated it again.  Fighting the numbing sensation down his arm, he used his new flexibility to force his hand into his pocket.  Thankfully the Master had been too wrapped up in the unfolding of his grand plan to frisk him and so his long fingers curled around his sonic screwdriver.  “I can break your chain from here, but I can’t risk trying for your manacles.  You’ll have to do that for yourself, do you understand?”

She raised her head and when she saw what he had in his hand, she nodded once.

He awkwardly aimed his trusty tool and with a shower of sparks, the links gave way.  Rose’s hands dropped abruptly pulling her to her knees.  They felt heavy as lead and her shoulders were cramped with being pulled upward for so long.  Circulation rushed back into her hands and the sharp pins and needles brought fresh tears as she worked at the buckles to free herself.  If she’d had use of her teeth she could have made short work of them, but she didn’t and she couldn’t get the gag off without the use of her hands.  She was sobbing her frustration and finding is hard to breathe.

“Rose!” his voice was sharper than he intended but they couldn’t afford for her to slip into hysteria.  “Come over here and I can help.”

She stumbled across the room and fell at his feet.  She thrust her hands into his lap and hid her face.  “Oh, Rose...” he longed to stroke her bowed head and ease her pain and tell her how precious she was.  “Here, bring you hands closer to my other hand and we’ll do this together.” In minutes they had the manacles off.  Rose scrabbled at the buckle behind her head, ignoring the hair she pulled out in her haste to be rid of the gag.  The first deep breath she took was heavenly.  She worked her jaw to ease the ache.

“Now me, if you please,” the Doctor tried for a gentle smile but he knew it came out pretty strained.  He noticed that she made no move to cover herself and had yet to say a word or make eye contact.   

Rose ducked behind the chair and soon had him free.

The Doctor forced himself out of the chair and turned to her.  “There’s one more thing I need you to do for me.  I need you to grab my arm and pull.  I’ve dislocated my shoulder and the pain is quite distracting.”

Rose rushed to him and gingerly took a hold of his wrist with both hands.  Her own arms still felt rubbery so she doubted her strength.  She also cringed at the thought of hurting him – she’d done enough of that already.

“Please, Rose.  You have to do this.  I’ll count to three and then pull.  One...two...three!”

She threw her weight into the pull and he leaned back away from her.  The Doctor roared as the joint snapped back into place.  He tried to muffle the sound because he knew Rose would heap on more guilt, but he couldn’t help himself.  As soon as the shoulder was re-set, he used her grip on him to swing her around and into his arms.

He held her tightly, cradling her head against his chest and lowered his head to press soft kisses into her hair.  It was an agonizing few seconds before her arms slid around his waist and weakly returned the hug.  Then he felt her hands clench on the back of his jacket and she tried to burrow herself deeper into his chest.

“Shhhhh,” he crooned.  “I’ve got you.  Oh Rose, I’m so sorry, so very, very sorry.”

“I thought he was you,” she confessed to his shirt collar.  “I really truly thought he was you – a future you.  He told me he’d gone a bit mad and regenerated and that the TARDIS had been hurt and had to regenerate too.  I guessed that’s why I couldn’t feel her in my head anymore.  He said he’d come back to rescue me from falling into the void, but he couldn’t’ take me back because of the time lines.”  She hiccupped a sob. “He had two hearts and I thought he was you.”

“I’m sorry I never told you about him, but I really and truly thought he was dead – gone with all the rest of my people.”

“But I should have known.  I should have been able to tell he wasn’t you.”

The Doctor leaned back enough to see into her stricken face, “Rose, he is a master manipulator.  You didn’t know, you couldn’t know!  The Master tricked you and everything that happened, it’s on him.  Do you hear me?  His fault; not yours.”

For only the second time since he’d broken down the door, Rose met his gaze.  Her eyes were still shadowed with the pain of regret, recrimination and shame, but she searched his for hope of forgiveness.  

Relieved to have her truly looking at him, he tried to give her what she needed even has he struggled with his own demons.  “I only wanted you to be safe, Rose.  Instead I threw you into the clutches of the most evil man I know.”

“We both made a real mess of it,” she concluded. 

“Yeah,” he acknowledged, humbled.  Holding her against him, looking into her face and hearing her voice were actions that did great things to the storm he held inside.  Slowly, as if his touch might startle her, he raised one hand to cup her face.  Her skin was so soft it soothed him.  He traced over her dried tear tracks with his thumb.

Roses’ eyes fluttered close.  How could she have confused his hands with the Master’s? She sighed and leaned into his touch.  She became aware of how his woolen suit felt against her bare breasts.  She really should have tried to zipper up her top as soon as she was free, but now she was glad she hadn’t.  He might not be interested in her in that way, but at least she would have a memory of this intimate moment.  Maybe it would be enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

“Rose...” his breath ghosted over her face.  When she opened her eyes she saw how close he was. It seemed like he was going to kiss her.

“What did you do?” demanded the Master as he materialized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, you just KNEW he wasn't going to be gone for long, didn't you?


	9. Complication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master has his plan. The Doctor has his plan. But trust Rose to have the answer!

_“What did you do?” demanded the Master as he materialized._

 

“What do you mean?”  It was pretty obvious that they had managed to escape their bonds and were enjoying the beginnings of a private reunion.

“The TARDIS!  It won’t respond to my commands!”  The Master’s face was flushed with anger.  Not only had his prisoners managed to free themselves in record time, but his escape plans were thwarted.  He hadn’t been lying: there was no other way off this rock.

“I told you it wouldn’t work,” the Doctor reminded him calmly.  “Before landing here I sequenced a security override protocol.  The TARDIS is in lock down until she receives the appropriate command accompanied by the appropriate bio-signature.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I know you.  The only thing you want more than perhaps torturing me is to have my TARDIS.”

“That’s not fair,” he pouted. 

“What wrong with his TARDIS?” wondered Rose.  Outside of the obvious broken door, everything appeared to be fine on his time ship.  She had assumed that the Doctor would use it to fly them out of here.

“I don’t have a TARDIS!” The Master gestured to the room where they all stood.  “This was just set dressing for our little performance.  I needed you to think you were on the TARDIS and that I was the Doctor, remember?”

“This is supposed to be my TARDIS?”  The Doctor scoffed, “You got it all wrong.”

“I know that now,” the Master sputtered.   “How was I to know you’d gone and played with the default setting?  Still, I was able to fool you, wasn’t I, Rose?”

Rose shrunk back into the Doctor’s embrace, unhappy with his reminder of her gullibility.   The Doctor gave her a reassuring squeeze before shuffling her around to stand behind him.  He hoped she’d take the opportunity to redress as best she could.  He strongly resented how the Master had mistreated her; the last thing he wanted now was to give him anymore chances to ogle her.

“I don’t suppose you’d tell me the command sequence and donate some TNA for the bio-signature.”

“You suppose rightly.”

“I thought so; still you can’t fault me for asking.”  The Master huffed and then plunked himself down into the vacated chair. There was no point in arguing with the Doctor; he’d gotten the upper hand for now.  _Trust him to complicate things! Time to begin to devise a new plan._

Rose came around to the Doctor’s side and slid her hand into his.  He was happy to see she had zipped up her sweater although a randy bit of his brain was busy reminding him of what lay beneath and the fact that her bra was ruined and the knitted fabric would be rubbing against her nipples...  “Right then!  Rose and I will be on our way.  Do I have to restrain you, or will you let us leave quietly?”

The Master stared at him.  “You wouldn’t just leave me here.  You’re too good.  You’re too noble for that kind of cruelty.”

The Doctor frowned.  “You don’t know me as well as you think you do,” he admonished sternly.

The Master shrugged, “But does Rose know you?  Does she know this dark side?  The man who can kill his entire race save one and then condemn that one to a solitary death brought on by boredom?  Do you really want her to see that side of you?”

Rose squeezed the Doctor’s hand.  “Couldn’t we turn him over to the authorities or something?”  For all the terrible hurt he had given her, Rose could not imagine leaving him to that sort of death.  Never mind that it was exactly the thing he had planned to do to them. 

“I can’t trust him in the TARDIS, Rose.”

“Couldn’t you knock him out or something?”

The Master was amazed at the conversation he was hearing.  He had been horrid to Rose, tricking her and betraying her in the worst possible way and now she was arguing for his life!  Maybe she did have some special powers after all.  That much compassion was just not normal!

The Doctor rubbed the back of neck in thought.  He really, really did not want to let the Master into his TARDIS.  He really, really did want to just leave him here to rot.  After he beat him within an inch of his next regeneration that is and preferably with a length of that damnable chain wrapped around his fist as he hit him.  Rose’s free hand coming to stroke his forearm gentled him and pulled him back from the dark edge.  “Fine,” he sighed.  “I have some potent knock out capsules, we can give him those.  But first things first: give me the vortex manipulator.”

With a great show of reluctance, the Master took off the requested item and tossed it to the Doctor who promptly put it in his pocket.

“We’ll hike back to the TARDIS and then you’ll take the capsule.  After he passes out Rose, you can help me get him inside.  We’ll take him to the Shadow Proclamation – I’m sure they have a few outstanding warrants for the Master.”


	10. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose have a heart to heart.

The trip to the TARDIS passed without incident.  Primarily because the Doctor kept his sonic screwdriver at the ready – it could deliver a very nasty shock of its own if a wayward time lord tried to do anything untoward.  The Master meekly took the offered capsules and passed out as expected.  The Doctor triple checked that was he quite unconscious before getting Rose to help carry him on board.  He saw how her face blanched as she touched his inert body and not for the first time, the Doctor doubted the wisdom of his decision.  The Oncoming Storm still rumbled just behind the curtain of his control.

The Shadow Proclamation indeed had outstanding warrants for the Master.  The fact that they were centuries old or that the accused had been presumed dead didn’t seem to matter.  For some crimes there is no statute of limitations.  In the absence of the Gallifrey High Council, the Shadow Proclamation assumed judiciary responsibility.  As the Judoon guards led away the now very conscious Master, he had the temerity to wink at Rose and make kissing sounds at the Doctor. 

The Doctor knew the Master was playing up the harmless crazy angle and sincerely hoped that his jailers would not be lulled into complacency. Given his talents, he would be surprised if the Master didn’t figure a way to manipulate even these brutal galactic police sooner or later and effect an escape. Now that the Master was back in his universe, the Doctor knew with fatalistic certainty they would meet again.  In the meantime, the best he could do was be the Doctor and help Rose recover from their adventure.

Anxious to put as much distance between Rose and the Master as he could the Doctor practically carried Rose back to the TARDIS.  He was positive he’d violated at least five protocols in doing so, but he was quick and they departed before any of the paperwork could catch up to them.

For a few minutes he busied himself with the TARDIS controls sending them into the vortex.  He had no destination in mind.   If not for Jackie’s departure to Pete’s World, he probably would have suggested Rose go home for some bit, but then again he didn’t want to try and explain Rose’s injuries to Jackie either. Of course they could travel back in time, but to expect Rose to navigate that conundrum would be asking too much right now.  In cases such as these perhaps it was best that the mother was unavailable.  He mentally rifled through his list of leisure planets but nothing appealed.  He then mentally rifled through his list of exciting planets where they could get immersed in an adventure or two but again, his hearts just weren’t in it.  In the end he just set the TARDIS to drift. 

All the while, Rose sat on the jumpseat hugging her knees and watching him out of the corner of her eye.  Uncertainty rolled off her in waves.  He noted that she’d pulled her sleeves down over the back of her hands, as if to hide the marks.  But he’d already seen the chafing and bruises on her wrist left from her imprisonment.  His eidetic memory would never let him forget.  Eventually the marks would fade, but the scars were another matter entirely.

Another thing his eidetic memory could not forget was the holographic display the Master had orchestrated.  In one corner of his mind it played on an eternal loop.  He was fixated on her passion.  He’d already known she was beautiful but seeing her so – half naked, writhing and groaning in pleasure – opened up a hunger in him he thought himself incapable of.  The fact that it had been the Master and not he who gave her such pleasure was galling.  He had been so careful to keep his emotions concealed, to protect and respect her and keep her from being entangled in a relationship with him, that he had practically given the Master the chance to be her lover on a silver platter.  He mentally picked away at that scar much the same way Rose would worry the cuticle on her thumb until it bled. He bled.

The Master was right.  He had been arrogant in using the Moment.  He knew it was the only solution, but if he had been better at choosing his time, he could have destroyed the Master with it and prevented today. He was under no delusion that the strategic strike the Master planned would have turned the War.  The only thing the Doctor was guilty of was depriving the Master of the glory of dying in battle.  Every time he looked at Rose he regretted that deprivation.  She should never have had to content with his special brand of evil.  He didn’t realize that his regret and recrimination were plainly written on his face.

He couldn’t help it, his eyes continued to stray to the intimate marks on her neck. 

“I thought he was you.”

“The things he did, the way he man-handled you....”

“I thought he was you.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not made of glass Doctor.  I’m not saying I’d want to be... every time, but because I believed it was you, I thought...”

“You believed I would... you’d want me to...?”

“I thought he was you and yeah.  I mean I’d never dared hope... but, yeah.”

“You were alright with that?”

“As long as it was you.  Yes.  I... I trust you.”

Her trust in him was a spark to tinder.  An unfamiliar wildfire was kindled on the bleak plains of his soul.  How he loved this woman!  But it was love he’d never dared to act upon.  He’d been afraid he was too alien for her.  He’d been afraid his feelings were too intense.  He’d been afraid he would lose her and then lose himself.  _Too late for that last fear,_ he though wryly.  _If this adventure has taught me anything, it’s that I’ve already lost myself in her._   Memories of what he’d done in his search of her made him cringe inwardly.  Yet he knew he’d do all and more if it was necessary.

“Doctor?” his silence following her confession was beginning to unnerve her and he could practically see her retreating into the dark place again.

“No Rose, don’t.  Don’t pull away, please.”  He touched her lightly on the shoulder – their first physical contact since being alone in the TARDIS.  The electric jolt of that simple touch was evidence of the super charged atmosphere between them.  _Thanks a lot,_ he thought to the TARDIS.  _We don’t need your help.  I know how important this is._   The TARDIS sent him a mental image of pushing them down the corridor – her equivalent of saying ‘get a room’.  “Sorry.  It’s just a lot for me to process,” he told Rose as he continued to mentally argue with his ship.  _Slow down!_   “I’ve just never let myself hope that...”

“Hope what?”

“That you’d... you’d want...” he floundered for words, “I was afraid.”

“You?  Afraid?”  For the first time in what felt like an eon, a ghost of a smile passed across her face.  The TARDIS was singing in the back of her mind, sending Rose her own messages of love and acceptance and encouragement.

“Absolutely afraid!  Here stands before you the greatest coward in five galaxies.  No, make that six, er no seven.”

“I don’t believe that.  No coward would choose to save the universe at the expense of his own people.”

“And no brave man would push away the woman he...” his hearts suddenly clogged his throat.

“...the woman he...what, Doctor?  How about finishing some sentences, yeah?”  Emboldened by his words, she slid off the seat and reached up to smooth his tie.

He captured her hand and pressed it to his chest.  “No brave man would push away the woman he surrendered his hearts to.”  The hand on her shoulder slid under her hair to grasp the nape of her neck and pull her forward.  With slow deliberation he bent his head and pressed his lips onto hers.

In the back of both their minds the TARDIS set off proverbial fireworks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It came to me that I could end my story here: villain vanquished, heroes reunited, but my muse is not content to do so. WARNING: things will heat up in the next chapter. If I haven't earned the E rating yet, I shall.


	11. Elimination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's oral fixation is put to good use.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: I added a tag to this story to reflect the direction my muse has scampered. If you don't enjoy reading smut, stop now. If you do continue, please comment. This is my first foray into writing such scenes and I'm as nervous as a virgin bride.

He lifted his head to smile down on her upturned face.  Their first proper kiss and if he was any judge of human physiology, it was a smashing success.  They’d kissed before but fate had always arranged that one or the other of them had not been themselves, so in the strictest sense those had never counted.

“Hello,” he whispered, enjoying the way her pupils dilated and her skin flushed under his gaze.

“Hello,” she replied softly.  Unconsciously she licked her swollen lips.  He still held her one hand pressed over his hearts and was lightly massaging the back of her neck with his other.  Her free hand had mysteriously found its way under his suit jacket and was resting on his bum.  A tentative squeeze had his smile spreading wider and one eye brow arched questioningly.

 Rose nodded slightly not entirely sure what she was agreeing to but confident that it would be completely agreeable.

The Doctor leaned in for another kiss.  He released her hand and used both of his to pick her up about the waist.  She grabbed onto his shoulders and wrapped her legs about him.  All those centuries of flying the complex TARDIS solo had made the Doctor an accomplished multi-tasker so even as he walked them out of the room, his tongue swept her lower lip begging entrance and further intimacy. Rose complied and he pushed in. Evidence of the Master’s trespass stirred his blood and he found himself walking faster and gripping tighter. He wanted to override every bit of the Master’s bio genetic transfer from his Rose. 

The matchmaking TARDIS obligingly left his bedroom door wide open so there was no fumbling with door handles when they were more agreeably occupied with other things.  He paused long enough to mentally thank her before kicking the door shut with his heel and signally his demand for complete privacy. 

Instead of depositing her on the bed as she expected, the Doctor pinned her against the wall.  He dragged his lips from hers and began to kiss her face and move down her neck.  Every so often she could feel him lave her skin with his talented tongue and she guessed that he was ministering to her bruises.  She tightened her grip with her thighs so she could let go of his shoulders and sank her fingers into his soft hair.  She massaged his scalp in the same way he had massaged her neck and then lightly scraped her nails on his skin.  He growled his approval before lifting his head to look at her.

Rose sucked in a quick breath.  His face was flushed, and his lips glistening, but it was his eyes that arrested her.  They were so dark they were nearly black.  Fierce was the best description.  “I want to completely erase his touch from your body.”

Rose nodded hastily.  She was powerless to deny that face anything.  She knew she was looking into the Oncoming Storm, but she wasn’t afraid. He had a dermal regenerator in med bay but she was pretty certain the Doctor was talking about a very different course of treatment. The idea of that prescription sent her pulse racing.

The hands that gripped her waist let go and reached up to open her hoodie.  Then they reached around behind her to undo the clasp on her ruined bra and drop it before sliding down to cup her bum.  Rose balanced using her legs and pressing her shoulders into the wall as he set to work erasing the Master’s touch with his mouth and tongue. When he came to the bite mark on her breast, he paused and looked up at her again.  “I’m so sorry Rose.”

She shook her head, “Don’t be.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t kill him when I had the chance.”  He lowered his head and kissed her injury gently with a series of butterfly kisses, one for each tooth mark.  His messy fringe tickled her chest and caused goose bumps of excitement. The muscles in her thighs began to shake from exertion. Rose wondered how much longer she could hold this pose, as wonderful as it was.

Sensing her distress, the Doctor shifted his grip and lifted her away from the wall.  He deposited her on the edge of the bed and knelt down in front of her.  He pushed her sweater top off her shoulders intent on kissing her injured wrists when he spied the bite mark that had been hidden by her collar.  Perhaps because he hadn’t seen it before, it was the most offensive to him.  “Let me go back right now.  Let me go back and kill him.”

Rose shook her head and took his hands into her own.  “No Doctor.  I don’t want his blood on your hands.  I don’t want anything of him to touch either of us, ever again.  Besides,” she smiled coyly, “you have to finish what you started.”

The Doctor stared at her but it took him a moment to truly take in what he was seeing.  Her eyes were shining with love and trust; the dark shadows of hurt and debasement all but gone.  What magic was this? Whatever it was, he wanted some for himself.  He leaned forward and kissed her, hard and open mouthed.  Without breaking the kiss he pushed her back on the bed and crawled up over her, toeing off his shoes as he went.  He reached under her arm pits and pulled her up until she was laying fully on the bed before he sat up, straddling her hips.

“He touched you one other place, Rose Tyler.”

“Yes, he did,” she couldn’t help the blush which crept up her face.  The Doctor vowed silently that he would banish that blush of shame and replace it with a flush of love.

He nodded and then moved back to grab the waistband of her slacks.  She lifted her hips to help him and he peeled away the last of her clothing.  He twined their fingers together as he leaned down and kissed the trail the Master’s hand had made across her ribs and stomach.  His fingers clenched as his lips and tongue told him this was indeed the skin that evil had defiled.  When he reached her nest of tawny curls he took a steadying breath.  The musky scent that was uniquely Rose was intoxicating.  Her pheromone levels were off the chart and the Doctor was having a hard time keeping to his agenda.  He wanted all trace of the Master gone before he began to make any imprinting of his own.  Before he was finished here would be no doubt left that Rose belonged solely to him.

“Open your legs for me,” he murmured into her navel. When she complied he kissed her curls and then sought out her clit with his tongue.  At war with himself he disciplined his reactions and clinically set about symbolically cleaning her.  His tongue went everywhere the Master’s finger had. The fact that Rose was trying not to wriggle and was spilling hot liquid onto the bedding beneath them made it even harder but much more rewarding.  Just before he lost the last bit of his own control he deemed his job complete, released her hands and sat back on his haunches.

Rose whimpered her frustration.  He had been winding her up and she was more than ready to fly free and forget everything.  She opened her eyes to see him kneeling between her legs scrutinizing her body.  Slowly he reached up and tugged on the knot of his tie, working it loose.  Without breaking eye contact with her he pulled it loose and thoughtfully ran the silk through his fingers.

Making up his mind, he looped the fabric over one of her wrists.  “Is this okay?” he didn’t want to aggravate her injuries, but he also wanted to override the memory of the manacle restraints.  When she nodded, he took her other wrist and wrapped a loop around it.  Bound loosely together, he then raised her arms over her head and swiftly anchored them to the headboard. “Alright?”

“Yes,” she breathed, sexual excitement making her breathless.

He kissed her forehead and then sat back again to begin unbuttoning his shirt.  He undressed for her, layer by layer always keeping eye contact.  By the time his chest was bare she was panting.  He had to climb off the bed to shed his trousers, but made sure he kept in her line of sight.  He wanted to be seen as fully as he could see her.  While he might be an alien, humans looked enough like Gallifreyans to be physically satisfying and visually pleasing.  A rush of manly pride swelled his chest when Rose’s eyes widened and she licked her lips in anticipation.

 “He made you climax for him,” the Doctor reminded her.  “I want you forget what that was like.  Last chance Rose Tyler: any reservations?”

“No, n..none.”

“Brilliant.”


	12. Consumation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took them a long time to get here, and so it will take a whole chapter too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More smut...just saying.

_“He made you climax for him,” the Doctor reminded her.  “I want you forget what that was like.  Last chance Rose Tyler: any reservations?”_

_“No, n..none.”_

_“Brilliant.”_

The Doctor climbed back on the bed, between her legs.  He pressed her down into the mattress with his weight and began a leisurely exploration of her body with his lips and fingers.  He found all her ticklish spots and teased her mercilessly until she couldn’t breathe.  Then he breathed his own cool breath into her mouth and soothed her heated flesh with caresses.  Rose tugged a couple of times on her restraints, longing to touch his body with her hands, but she didn’t complain or ask him to untie her.  She sensed that her submission was important to him and she trusted him completely.

His sure hands moved ever lower until at last fingers brushed her curls and then dipped lower to massage.  Her hips bucked involuntarily, eager to increase the friction and join in the dance.  He chuckled in her ear and rewarded her eagerness with a deeper swipe from back to front and then front to back.  She was so wet and slick that he could smear her juices around her anus.

She gasped at that unexpected touch and felt her inner walls clench in anticipation.

He slid slightly down her dampened body and pulled a nipple into his mouth.  His tongue teased the tip into proud hardness and then he began to suck. As he built up suction pressure, he slid a finger into her heated core.  Then he slid in a second one and a finally third, stretching her.  He pumped her in time with pulls on her breast.  His other hand reached up and kneaded the other breast, mimicking the work of his mouth.

Rose moaned and curled her toes.  All ready wound up, the ache in her womb was building intollerably and she longed for release.

Suddenly many things happened all at once.  The Doctor released her breast with a wet pop to watch her face.  His fingers pushed deeper inside and curled slightly.  His thumb pressed down on her clit.  And she exploded. 

He worked her through the contractions of her climax and then pulled his hand free.  He fastidiously licked every finger clean as he was waited for Rose to come back down.  When she finally opened her dazed eyes, he nodded firmly.  “That was for him.”

“What?”  She was pretty sure she was the one who had just had her world rocked.

“This is for you.”

He slid further down until he was level with her entrance.  He hooked a leg over each shoulder and then pushed back up toward her so that her pelvis was tilted off the bed.  He cupped her bottom in his hands, squeezing gently and then began to stroke her sensitive flesh with his tongue.  He drank deeply of her juices, thrilling at the taste.  He consumed her.

Rose didn’t think she could come again so soon, but the feel of his clever tongue was proving her wrong.  He teased the little bundle of nerves and then pushed his tongue into her as far as he could to scoop out more of her fluid.  He blew on her sensitized flesh, causing it to tingle and then set about repeating the process.  His hands massaged her bum rhythmically keeping her elevated and effectively stopping her from doing anything more than press into his shoulders with her heels.

Rose’ heart was galloping in time with the flicks of his tongue on her clit.  If she didn’t come soon she thought she’d pass out.  “Doctor...” she gasped, “I need...”

His teeth grazed her clit and he pressed a wet thumb into her anus.  Rose screamed as every muscle in her body seemed to seize up before beginning to shake.  Her inner walls fluttered and she vibrated with pleasure.  The Doctor held himself still, riding out her tempest before lowering her body back down onto the mattress.

He crawled back up her body and nuzzled her neck.  Purposefully he wiped his face on her shoulder bite. She could smell herself on him and found it very erotic.  She felt boneless beneath him as the climax tension slowly ebbed away.  His weight was like a comforting blanket and she could feel herself drifting off to sleep even though her hands were still tied to the bed.

“Oh no Rose Tyler, I don’t believe we’re finished yet,” he rumbled in her ear.

“Wha....?”she mumbled, swimming back to the surface. 

He rolled off her to lie on his side and propped his head on his hand. “I don’t think you’ve completely forgotten yet,” he challenged.

“I haven’t?”  She watched him watch her.  The possessive gleam in his eye released a room full of butterflies into her stomach.  This was all brand new and wonderful territory in their relationship.  “You’re doing a really good job of helping me forget,” she offered.  Never in her life had she had two orgasms in a row.

“I know.”

She rolled her eyes at him and smirked, using her favourite line to tease him, “You think you’re so impressive.”

Something in her words or expression caused a change in his mood. “Oh, you have no idea.”  His voice dipped lower and caused a shiver of anticipation to run down her spine. She let her eyes run down the length of him.  He was full and hard and bigger than she expected for his lean frame.  It was obvious that he needed some satisfaction too.  Rose wished that she had her hands free – she knew how to pleasure a man and she longed to pleasure him.  She gave an experimental tug, a question in her eyes.  Slowly he shook his head.  He would not untie her yet, unless she was hurting. The Doctor’s need to be completely control the situation was obvious.  Maybe this was how they did things on Gallifrey?

“Okaaaaay.” 

He pounced.  He used his knees to push her legs apart and grabbed her hips.  “This one is for us,” he intoned and lifted her slightly off the mattress again.  With one hard trust he entered, burying himself to the hilt. They fit together as perfectly as any fantasy.

Before Rose had a chance to adjust to the pressure of his shaft stretching her, he pulled out and pushed in again.  Rose moaned and writhed beneath him.  Barely recovered from her last orgasm, her pleasure centers were busy once again.  Rough, hard and strong he worked at pounding away the lingering memories of her shame.  He worshipped at her temple, telling her in his native tongue how beautiful she was, how worthy she was, how precious and rare.

The Doctor’s control over his emotions and his body was slipping as surely as Rose’s hands had slipped off the lever.  _Was that really just today?_   He felt as if he was spinning on the edge of a tornado about to be sucked in or flung away into oblivion.  He stared down into her wide eyes, looking deeply into her beautiful soul.  Unbidden the binding words came to him. “You. Are. Mine.” he growled in English, punctuating each word with another strong thrust into her slick core.

“Yes,” she gasped riding the building wave he was creating.  His eyes seemed to drill down deep into her.  She was laid bare before him in more ways than one. “I. Am. Yours.”

The Doctor reached forward and pulled the slip knot releasing Rose’s wrists, but before she could caress him, he pulled away and flipped her unceremoniously onto her face.  Grabbing her by the hips, he pulled her back and upwards. Using his thighs, he pushed her legs further apart forcing her to open wider for him. He pulled her backwards by the hips and buried himself. He wanted to freeze the moment and stay joined to her forever. But his body’s need for release was pass the point of suppression and drove him to pump.

Each thrust pushed her down into the mattress until she could get her arms underneath herself and push up to brace herself.  She rocked back. The Doctor reached around and squeezed a breast.  With his other hand he pushed a finger against her engorged clit.  Rose bucked helplessly as white-hot pleasure shot through her body.  He was right: she’d had no idea it could be like this. All thought vanished as she was consumed with the building pressure inside her. 

The Doctor rode her mercilessly, varying the speed and intensity of his thrusts and rubs all the while giving her no time to adjust or enter into the rhythm herself.  She was helpless to do anything but receive his relentless pleasure-building attention. It was like riding a hurricane.  He pumped into her until Rose began to cry out incoherently, begging for release.

He increased the tempo of his pumping and just as she felt her heart would burst, he pinched her clit and sent her over the edge in a gut wrenching climax.  The Doctor followed close behind as the muscles inside Rose clamped down around him and began to milk him dry. 

“Mine!” he shouted to the universe as they collapsed in post-climatic exhaustion.  The Doctor covered Rose with his sweat-slick body albeit he bore most of his weight on his elbows and knees.  Gently he nipped her shoulder blade before nuzzling the nape of her neck. “Until we are nothing but star dust,” he murmured in Gallifreyan completing the first stanza of the ancient bonding ceremony.


	13. Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor learns some important things. Rose demonstrates this is not her first rodeo. Fluff and smutt.

He stayed with her through her full eight hour sleep cycle.  He had slept himself for 3.45 hours and then lay quietly holding her.

The first thing he was aware of upon waking was a euphoric sense of contentment.  He had always had the wanderlust; that is why he’d stolen a TARDIS in the first place.  Well, that and the direction he could see the High Council and upper houses were headed in.  And then there were the dire prophesies of the Matrix…  But he’d always been more curious than most, eager to explore, to run.  Until now; now his hyperactive body was perfectly happy to lay prone on his bed, Rose’s head pillowed on his chest.

The second thing he noticed was that as a touch telepath, the more skin contact one had the stronger the thoughts of the other person.  He had suspected this to be true – hence the choice of many layers of clothing in his usual ensemble – but now he had proof.  Even in deep sleep, Rose’s presence, her bright essence was a soft light on the edge of his consciousness. It was enough to dispel the lingering storm clouds in his psyche and quiet the violence within.  She soothed him in deep places.

The third thing he admitted was he really, really, really wanted to bond with Rose.  He hadn’t planned on saying the words last night, but perhaps the Master had planted the suggestion in his subconscious when he made his own threat. Or perhaps he was just now beginning to accept the reality of his connection to this wonderful woman and wanted to complete what had already begun in his hearts.  Whatever the reason, he wanted it.  The urge to take her mentally as well as physically had been almost overwhelming.  The physical had been slaked, for the time being, but the mental ache remained. 

As the hours passed, the Doctor rehearsed how he could broach the subject to Rose.  He remembered quite clearly her affront to simply having the TARDIS translate languages in her mind.  That had been a long time ago, and she and the TARDIS had become close… still bonding was so very much more.  One thing he knew for certain, no matter how badly he ached for that intimate connection, it had to be Rose’s decision. If she didn’t want it, then he would have to accept that.  He spent considerable time formulating ways that he could control the drive within, partition off that primal part of himself that hungered for his soul mate.

The last thing he came to realize as he let her sleep was that he had done some terrible things in the name of saving Rose Tyler.  The shock and surprise on Jack’s face finally registered and he knew that he had some serious apologizing to do to their old friend.  The reunion of Jack and Rose would raise a lot of questions which he was very uncomfortable answering.  He wondered if Rose had inherited her mother’s talent for slapping and feared he might find out. He was also chagrined at his behavior to the other people he’d encountered along the way.  He hadn’t killed anyone else, but he’d certainly burned a lot of bridges and he suspected that Rose would be making him retrace his steps and make as many amends as possible.  He ruffled his bed messed hair and sighed.

 

Rose slowly awoke to the soothing cadence of a double heart beat.  It wasn’t the first time she had fallen asleep on him.  There had been nights as they marathoned movies in the library, there were times they were imprisoned and had shared a tiny cot, but there had never, ever been a time like this.  She stretched luxuriously, reveling in the twinge certain parts of her anatomy gave her.  She had been most thoroughly made love to and if she had suffered bouts of self doubt and loathing at the hands of the Master, the Doctor had rebuilt her esteem with his loving hands and adoring face.

“Good morning.”

“Is it morning? I can never tell,” she ran an appreciative hand across his flat stomach and up his ribcage.  The fact that she felt she had permission to touch him thus was thrilling.

A caressing hand ran up and down her back.  “Time is relative when you are in the TARDIS and the vortex, so to accommodate your linear understanding of time I adjust to your sleep cycle.”

She twisted around so that she could rest her chin on his chest and look at his face.  “You are so good to me.  I want to be good to you.”

He shook his head bemused, “You are good to me.  You are good for me.  You have no idea how many ways you have saved me, Rose Tyler.”

“No more than you have saved me and I want to show you how grateful I am.”  Her hand slid back down his ribs to rest on his narrow hip meaningfully.  “Last night was all about me, now it’s your turn.”

“Rose you don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t have to; I want to.”  For the next few minutes Rose spoke only with her hands and mouth.

The Doctor’s euphoric contentment dissolved into a different sense of euphoria.  No one had ever done what Rose was doing.  Not to this body…not to any of his bodies… If the Time Lords had ever experienced this he seriously doubted they would have turned to looming for procreation.  For a touch telepath to be touched like so….  Even though Rose was not telepathic herself her love was breaching his awareness in increasing waves and a panicky question raced across his distracted mind: how unmanly would it be for him to faint right now?  Rasillon!  She could not know what this was doing to him, could she?  No wonder humans were obsessed with sex!

“You. Are. Mine.”  Rose emphasized each word with a lick from his root to tip.  She was deliberately echoing his words of last night.  She did not understand their significance beyond the obvious but she had felt the power and saying them now gave her a heady rush. 

“Yes!” he gasped, forgetting he could engage his respiratory bypass.  “I. Am. Yours,” he responded.  She had him proverbially wrapped around her little finger.  Whatever she said, whatever she wanted, he’d feverishly agree to.  Ancient rites came to life and time lines began to shift and the Doctor couldn’t have cared less.

The TARDIS paused in her routine self maintenance, holding her metaphorical breath.

Rose paused, her lips poised to take him in.  She looked into his lust drugged face and he swore her eyes gleamed gold.  “Mine,” she growled and took him into his mouth.  Her cheeks hollowed out as she sucked on him.  Her tongue cradled the underside and his tip pressed against the roof of her mouth.  Hot and moist, she drew him in and then pulled away only to draw him deeper still.

Under normal circumstances time lords have complete control over their body’s erotic reactions.  A male can withhold his ejaculation indefinitely.  In fact he can remain flaccid and unresponsive to outside stimuli if necessary. Apparently these were not normal circumstances.  His hips bucked and he thrust reflexively into her.  He reached down to caress her silky blond hair and accidentally brushed her temple with his fingers.

The link was made before he could stop it and then he couldn’t let her go.  Everything she was feeling slammed into him and he was blinded.  Love, brighter than the heart of the TARDIS shone into all the dark recesses and exposed his failures.  Then the light blew past them leaving a wake of healing and acceptance.  She was so beautiful!  Tears of joy ran ignored down his cheeks and he surrendered.

The salty liquid was cool as it hit the back of her throat and Rose swallowed greedily every drop that he could give her.  She was aware of a strange tingling through her body.  She didn’t know if it was some side effect of his alien cum, or the rush of power from knowing she had brought him to that state.  Or maybe it had something to do with his fingers pressed to her head.  Whatever it was she liked it. She liked it a lot.

She released him with a wet pop and placed one last lingering kiss on his tip before looking at him.  She mewled in distress when she saw his tears and quickly crawled up to straddle his lap and cradle his face in her hands.  Her actions dislodged his touch to her temple and he grimaced at the broken connection.

“Doctor?  What’s wrong?  Why are you crying?” 

He shook his head and gave a watery smile.  “Oh, Rose,” he struggled to find the words to explain what had just happened.  “It’s okay.  Better than okay.  Brilliant.  You’re brilliant.  I’m just… overwhelmed,” he finished lamely.  There was so much he needed to tell her, so much to explain.  Now more than ever he wanted her as his bondmate.

His time senses righted themselves and reminded him that it had been nearly 21 hours since Rose had last had a meal.  “You need to eat,” he blurted.

Rose laughed her surprise.  “What, I just ate you didn’t I?  Don’t you think that was enough?”

“I’m serious Rose.  It’s been nearly 21 hours since you last had a meal.  You need sustenance.  Adrenaline will only take you so far.”

On cue, her stomach rumbled its complaint.

“See?  Off you get.  Let’s go to the galley.”

Mocking a pout, Rose climbed off the bed and collected her stuff. “I’m going to get a fresh set of clothes.”  The Doctor lay back and watched her shapely form.  His eyes roamed appreciatively and possessively.

Rose paused at the door to look back over her shoulder at him.  He was gorgeous, like some lithe jungle cat stretched out on the bed: relaxed but all powerful. “Hey, you lout, best get a move on or I’ll beat you.”

Always one to be competitive, the Doctor launched himself as Rose scampered out the door.  Both set new records for showers and dressing.  Not that it had anything to do with wanting to be with each other.  No of course not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No boys and girls they haven't actually bonded, but they are certainly flirting close to it.


	14. Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose have breakfast and both select different next adventures. Who has their way?

They worked companionably making a hearty breakfast and the Doctor waxed eloquently about the merits of various eggs.  Rose was happy they'd stocked good old Earth chicken eggs.  If one or the other took advantage of a chance to caress so much the better.  The TARDIS was back in their heads, humming contentedly.   She had respected their need for privacy earlier but it didn’t take a genius to know that her Thief and her Wolf had taken their relationship to a deeper level and she was very pleased.  She had sensed the beginnings of the bond ritual but the link was incomplete.  Just like everything else about her beloved travelers, they took the long way to get to their destiny.  The TARDIS congratulated herself on her patience.

As they lingered over the last of the coffee and toast, the Doctor decided.  He set the vortex manipulator on the table between them.  “I’m sorry,” he began.  “If I’d taken this from Jack when I had the chance, the Master would never have been able to use it to capture you.”

Rose looked at the devise and ran a thoughtful finger across the leather. “Maybe,” she said softly, “but wouldn’t I have fallen into the void then?”

“Do _not_ try to tell me that the Master actually did us a favour!” he squeaked at that outrageous thought.

“Doctor, I don’t like what he did _to_ me!  But when I look at this, I can’t help but like what he did _for_ me… for us.”

The Doctor was speechless.  _You are amazing, Rose Tyler.  Gob smacking amazing!  No one but you could twist this around and find the good in the Master’s evil plan.  I don’t deserve you but I’ll be damned before I ever give you up._   He reached out and captured her hands in his.  Skin to skin contact and he could faintly read her mood.

“Is it really Jack’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Can we go give it back to him?”  Rose blanched at a sudden fearful thought.  “Oh, no!  You don’t think the Master…  Jack wouldn’t have given him this without a terrible fight…”

The Doctor let go of one of her hands in favour of tugging on his ear.  This was the part he’d been dreading.  “Yes, well.  I’m sure Jack did put up a fight but I’m sure he’s okay now.”

“How can you know?”

The Doctor then went on to explain in a disjointed rush all he knew about Captain Jack Harkness and the unique ability that had been bestowed upon him by a time goddess.  He was able to nimbly side step the identity of said goddess, but he knew he was probably avoiding the inevitable on that front as well. 

“So Jack can’t stay dead?  Ever?”  On the one hand, Rose was happy to know that her dear friend was alive, on the other hand through the Doctor’s life she had glimpsed how lonely immortality truly was.  “Oh, Doctor, why didn’t you tell me this before?  Jack has to be so lonely… he needs us, he needs _you_.  You and he, you’re a like now yeah?”

“No, we’re not alike.  I might have a very long life and a way to cheat death, but I’m not Jack.  His existence is a fixed point.  There have always been events that are fixed points, but he is the only fixed person.  Being around him now gives me the heebie-jeebies.”  The Doctor shivered.

“But Jack is our friend,” she protested.

“I know, and that’s why I’ve been avoiding telling you about him because I knew you’d want to see him and spend time with him.  Everything in me screams to get as far away from him as possible.”

“We’re still going to go see him,” Rose didn’t argue with the Doctor’s feelings, but she was confident they could get around them.  “Hold on… when did Jack become immortal?  How do you know what it feels like to be around him?”

The Doctor swallowed audibly.  One doesn’t get much past Rose Tyler, still he had to try.  He honestly didn’t know how to explain Bad Wolf.  He hardly understood it himself.  “I was there the day Jack was... changed.  I felt it and knew it for what it was.  I’m afraid I ran away from him right afterwards.”  All truths, and before she could ask for more details, he pushed on and confessed he’d gone to see Jack as soon as he’d recognized that the Master had his vortex manipulator.  “I’m afraid I lost my temper.  Jack will not be too happy to see me now.”

Rose chewed on her bottom lip.  The Doctor’s temper was legendary.  Still, this was Jack they were talking about.  “It doesn’t matter,” she said firmly.  “Jack is our friend; he’s saved both of us so many times.  You need to go and apologize.”

“I do,” the Doctor agreed.  He’d kept Rose from her friend long enough.  He could suffer through their reunion for her sake, but he drew the line at having Jack on the TARDIS – not that he thought she’d let him aboard, the affects of his fixedness would be more severe for her than even he.  Sadly there could be no resurrection of Team TARDIS, as much as it would make Rose happy.

As they journeyed toward Cardiff, Rose too casually asked who else the Doctor had encountered while he searched for her.  Shamefaced, he told her he might have encountered a few while on their trail.  “Anyone else you need to apologize to Doctor?”

“Possibly,” he admitted.

“Guess we know our next adventure then.”

The Doctor didn’t argue (then).  He had other things on his mind that could be very useful to distract Rose from her course of action.  Really, should a Time Lord traipse across the universe apologizing for chasing down a megalomaniac and punishing his accomplices?  He thought not.  What a Time Lord really needed to be doing was woo his soulmate, teaching her all the benefits that could be hers if she agreed to be his bondmate. 

Yes.  That was definitely the next adventure he would choose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this adventure. Much darker and sexier than what I've usually written. I watched World Enough and Time last night and seeing the Master (Simm) was particularly thrilling since he'd been camped out in my head the last few weeks! I truly did not know he was coming back to DW when I conceived this story.


End file.
